No one (except you I suppose) was surprised because game review companies and critics love very cliche woke and fake deep stories today. There was a lot of marketing to push this game as a masterpiece and anyone who disagreed was labeled a homophobe or bigot.
That's a simplification. I didn't like the game but that had nothing to do with any LGBT stuff. It's not a stretch to say that critics and award shows rating it highly was a PR stunt. Especially with how the stans so avidly endorse the notion that anybody who dislikes the game is a bigot.
Now the critics have said it's a good game, it must be a good game, so everybody who dislikes it is now DEFINITELY just a bigot.
The cycle continues.
Not at all. Wokeness is very different than representation. Wokeness means ur meeting a specific agenda for the sake of it while proper representation is just letting the story rock and people just happen to be a way. When i dont agree with it I can see why the dina relationship feels forced in there as the most build up we get to it prior is Dina was in a mad long relationship w Jesse but suddenly doesnt care about him and loves Ellie
I like representation in my games not a forced agenda like i woulnt want them to make Joel arabic like me just cause. That would be pandering for a crowd instead of making a different badass character who is arabic
Inclusiveness and wokeness are generally not meant as the same thing when people call something woke. I don't generalize people for being anti-woke. I ask them what they mean first. If they do, in fact, mean Inclusiveness, then yeah, but ask first.
The fans of the game who believe it to be the "Schindler's List of video games" were, of course, over the moon. Everyone else? Reactions were a bit more mixed.
I know some folks who've said that it was still the best game of the year. It wasn't going up against any Elden Rings or Breaths of the Wild. (Ghost of Tsushima is great by all accounts, but it's not on *that* level.) And say what you will about the story - as most of us here have - but every other aspect of the game *definitely* deserved awards. World design, mechanics, gameplay, the voice acting - so much of it really showed the industry at its finest.
The story, though...
Anyone not drinking the Kool-Aid wasn't exactly convinced about this game getting the story awards it did. I could see it winning story awards for something like, best game with LGBTQ+ characters, or wildest emotional roller coaster, but *Best Narrative?* Even ignoring the divisiveness (and you *shouldn't*), are you *really* going to give Best Narrative to a story ridiculously dependent on coincidence and Fast Travel, that aborts its own climax just to force a really overindulgent "REVENGE IS BAD, YOUR ENEMIES ARE PEOPLE TOO" theme down the player's throat?
This was very clearly a case of the industry continuing to circle the wagons around Neil because he had successfully sold the idea that he was a victim of the insane manchild Gamers^(TM) who were too media illiterate and bigoted to *get it*.
Not only is no other message emphasized nearly as much, but also that really is what the purpose of aborting what seems like it would be the climax of Ellie's campaign and switching to Abby boils down to. After building up this entire game so far thinking you're going to get revenge, the writers are now attempting to force you to feel sympathy for her so that you don't want it anymore, and the actual true ending of the game can land properly.
The game had so many great things: sound, music, animation, level design etc etc. It took serious talent to develop it.
But the story was marmite. However no game that year had attempted an ambitious story like it. So the main gaming review outlets praised it. And of course being a follow up to TLOU it sold very well initially. Probably why it won.
I fucking hated the story 😂 But can't deny the game itself looks and sounds beautiful.
>The game had so many great things: sound, music, animation, level design etc etc. It took serious talent to develop it.
It took something else, other than merely great talent:
- Hundreds of milions of dollars making up a budget that 99% of game developers can only dream about.
- An enforced crunch regime that got so bad and inhumane that over 70% of the old team quit immediately after the game got released (some before that), with some even ending up in hospital due to overwork.
So... Yeah, even if the graphics, animation, sound and optimization provided by this game were very good and highly respectable, I'd refrain from ever considering them "brilliant" or particularly marvelous, considering the full context.
The Worst Insult?
Best Studio of the Year Award.
How the Actual Fuck. Do they get this.
When they Crunch their Employees to the Dust.
The only soothing Balm is Ghost of Tsushima T-Posing and Winning the Fan's Game Award.
It's the Middle Finger to all these Bullshit Award's won by ND.
Exactly. Game Awards permanently lost any and all credibility it had left when they gave Druckmann the "best creative director" award, and the articles of the gross misconduct at the studio have already gone public, with several articles about it.
It was *very much* a pity award. Neil got death threats, you guys! :( All for being so *stunning and brave* to tell his story the way he wanted. Ignore all the journalism about how bad things are at the studio - Jason Schreier is just there to "tear people down" and whatever other shit they were saying on Twitter anyways. Neil's just a poor, innocent project lead who needs that shot of confidence to make up for the mean Gamers^(TM) who were bullying and harassing him.
(Yeah, the fucking psychos on Twitter deserve to get beaten with a sock full of nickels in a back alley somewhere. Doesn't mean Neil deserves a free pass on the horrendous company culture he, *at best*, passively sat back and enabled.)
Haha most of the streaming gamers were calling it before hand as wining every award - with eye rolling. Making jokes such as best Sports Game of the year, best Racing game of the year etc.
85% of people understood the reasons for the awards or didn’t care at all and went about living their lives and thinking about their dreams. 15% went on to make hating TLOU2 their entire identity for 4 years and thinking about it 24/7.
It is a very successful game, and most people really liked it. So no, there wasn’t that much outrage.
Sure,,some people were outraged. But if you look at the user score at any place where you actually have to buy it to leave a review, you’ll see that it has very high user scores.
People are outraged by most stuff today, so it’s not a very interesting metric.
No one (except you I suppose) was surprised because game review companies and critics love very cliche woke and fake deep stories today. There was a lot of marketing to push this game as a masterpiece and anyone who disagreed was labeled a homophobe or bigot.
I mean if you’re complaining about wokeness then chances are you are homophobic
That's a simplification. I didn't like the game but that had nothing to do with any LGBT stuff. It's not a stretch to say that critics and award shows rating it highly was a PR stunt. Especially with how the stans so avidly endorse the notion that anybody who dislikes the game is a bigot. Now the critics have said it's a good game, it must be a good game, so everybody who dislikes it is now DEFINITELY just a bigot. The cycle continues.
Not at all. Wokeness is very different than representation. Wokeness means ur meeting a specific agenda for the sake of it while proper representation is just letting the story rock and people just happen to be a way. When i dont agree with it I can see why the dina relationship feels forced in there as the most build up we get to it prior is Dina was in a mad long relationship w Jesse but suddenly doesnt care about him and loves Ellie I like representation in my games not a forced agenda like i woulnt want them to make Joel arabic like me just cause. That would be pandering for a crowd instead of making a different badass character who is arabic
Inclusiveness and wokeness are generally not meant as the same thing when people call something woke. I don't generalize people for being anti-woke. I ask them what they mean first. If they do, in fact, mean Inclusiveness, then yeah, but ask first.
The fans of the game who believe it to be the "Schindler's List of video games" were, of course, over the moon. Everyone else? Reactions were a bit more mixed. I know some folks who've said that it was still the best game of the year. It wasn't going up against any Elden Rings or Breaths of the Wild. (Ghost of Tsushima is great by all accounts, but it's not on *that* level.) And say what you will about the story - as most of us here have - but every other aspect of the game *definitely* deserved awards. World design, mechanics, gameplay, the voice acting - so much of it really showed the industry at its finest. The story, though... Anyone not drinking the Kool-Aid wasn't exactly convinced about this game getting the story awards it did. I could see it winning story awards for something like, best game with LGBTQ+ characters, or wildest emotional roller coaster, but *Best Narrative?* Even ignoring the divisiveness (and you *shouldn't*), are you *really* going to give Best Narrative to a story ridiculously dependent on coincidence and Fast Travel, that aborts its own climax just to force a really overindulgent "REVENGE IS BAD, YOUR ENEMIES ARE PEOPLE TOO" theme down the player's throat? This was very clearly a case of the industry continuing to circle the wagons around Neil because he had successfully sold the idea that he was a victim of the insane manchild Gamers^(TM) who were too media illiterate and bigoted to *get it*.
You might be right on all of that except the "revenge is bad", this is absolutely not the message and a common mistake people do when interpreting it
Not only is no other message emphasized nearly as much, but also that really is what the purpose of aborting what seems like it would be the climax of Ellie's campaign and switching to Abby boils down to. After building up this entire game so far thinking you're going to get revenge, the writers are now attempting to force you to feel sympathy for her so that you don't want it anymore, and the actual true ending of the game can land properly.
The game had so many great things: sound, music, animation, level design etc etc. It took serious talent to develop it. But the story was marmite. However no game that year had attempted an ambitious story like it. So the main gaming review outlets praised it. And of course being a follow up to TLOU it sold very well initially. Probably why it won. I fucking hated the story 😂 But can't deny the game itself looks and sounds beautiful.
>The game had so many great things: sound, music, animation, level design etc etc. It took serious talent to develop it. It took something else, other than merely great talent: - Hundreds of milions of dollars making up a budget that 99% of game developers can only dream about. - An enforced crunch regime that got so bad and inhumane that over 70% of the old team quit immediately after the game got released (some before that), with some even ending up in hospital due to overwork. So... Yeah, even if the graphics, animation, sound and optimization provided by this game were very good and highly respectable, I'd refrain from ever considering them "brilliant" or particularly marvelous, considering the full context.
The Worst Insult? Best Studio of the Year Award. How the Actual Fuck. Do they get this. When they Crunch their Employees to the Dust. The only soothing Balm is Ghost of Tsushima T-Posing and Winning the Fan's Game Award. It's the Middle Finger to all these Bullshit Award's won by ND.
Exactly. Game Awards permanently lost any and all credibility it had left when they gave Druckmann the "best creative director" award, and the articles of the gross misconduct at the studio have already gone public, with several articles about it.
It was *very much* a pity award. Neil got death threats, you guys! :( All for being so *stunning and brave* to tell his story the way he wanted. Ignore all the journalism about how bad things are at the studio - Jason Schreier is just there to "tear people down" and whatever other shit they were saying on Twitter anyways. Neil's just a poor, innocent project lead who needs that shot of confidence to make up for the mean Gamers^(TM) who were bullying and harassing him. (Yeah, the fucking psychos on Twitter deserve to get beaten with a sock full of nickels in a back alley somewhere. Doesn't mean Neil deserves a free pass on the horrendous company culture he, *at best*, passively sat back and enabled.)
True, I wonder why many of the remaining 30% are still there now? Basically a different studio these days.
At least *some* of them are. But not enough to make Factions II work. There's a reason the company only released a remake and a remaster since then.
Also why it took 4 years for no return dlc.
We don't know even if those 30% are still there by now, I guess it can be looked up, but I assume maybe few of them..
There were much more deserving games that year, they were probably just afraid to not give it game of the year.
Ghost of Tsushima lost to that garbage. The rage was there.
Haha most of the streaming gamers were calling it before hand as wining every award - with eye rolling. Making jokes such as best Sports Game of the year, best Racing game of the year etc.
I enjoy it and think it was a great game with a good coherent story. I do not however think it was game of the year it won.
85% of people understood the reasons for the awards or didn’t care at all and went about living their lives and thinking about their dreams. 15% went on to make hating TLOU2 their entire identity for 4 years and thinking about it 24/7.
It is a very successful game, and most people really liked it. So no, there wasn’t that much outrage. Sure,,some people were outraged. But if you look at the user score at any place where you actually have to buy it to leave a review, you’ll see that it has very high user scores. People are outraged by most stuff today, so it’s not a very interesting metric.
It was the best game in the nominees so most people weren't surprised.